Worldwide orders for sedimentation and centrifugation equipment will grow from $4.3 billion in 2001 to $5.7 billion in 2006. Clarifiers and thickeners, decanter centrifuges, basket centrifuges, disk separators, dissolved air floatation systems and hydrocyclones are all included in a continuously updated online report. Some of the key findings are as follows.

1. Growth in Asia will exceed that of either Europe or North America. Infrastructure investments such as municipal water and wastewater treatment plants will be major drivers.

2. Mining will be a major segment of the South American market over the five-year period.

3. Decanter centrifuges will continue to outsell belt filter presses for municipal wastewater applications particularly for plants treating more than five million gallons per day.

4. Dissolved air flotation sales will be buoyed by strong Asian drinking water growth and hazardous disinfection byproduct concerns in municipal water treatment.

5. Hydrocyclone sales will be strong in South America due to purchases by mining companies. Power plant flue gas desulfurization applications will boost the U.S. hydrocyclone market.

6. Double digit disk separator order growth will be experienced in biotechnology applications.

7. Municipal wastewater treatment plants and food manufacturers will be the largest purchasers over the next five years.

8. Consolidation and stabilization of the industry will occur. Hundreds of small suppliers have already been acquired by just three European based companies. Several other large players have been made available for sale by their parent companies.

9. The industry will lose many of its medium sized companies leaving a few large suppliers and nearly 1,000 small companies serving specific geographical and application niches.

10. Technical innovations will continue to be significant, but most of these innovations will come not from government and not from the big suppliers but from the small entrepreneurial companies.